SwiftVets.com

[carpro]

August 30, the first day after Katrina rammed into the Gulf Coast, the German media began to imply that the storm was a result of “global warming” and wouldn’t have happened if the U.S. had signed the Kyoto Protocol. And so the blame game began.

Environmentalists here in the U.S. soon picked up the cry. It was the fault of Bush that the U.S. had not signed the treaty and Katrina was a precursor of things to come. For those of you who don’t remember, the Kyoto Protocol was negotiated in 1998 by Al Gore and presented to the Senate for ratification. It failed to be ratified by a vote of 95-0. Why? Because it was a bad deal for America.

Katrina was a storm of immense proportions and no major American city had ever been totally flooded before. The damage was huge and the relief effort was complicated. No roads were passable, no airports were usable, and 300,000 citizens were trapped in the city. But it was all George Bush’s fault. At least those playing the blame game kept saying so.

The mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, made a complete fool of himself with his baying at the moon, while Governor Kathleen Blanco wrung her hands in dismay. It took four days for substantial help, in the form of the National Guard, to arrive on the scene. Reprehensible! Unbelievable! Criminal! And it was all the fault of George Bush. And, if the people stranded in New Orleans had not been black, they would have received help much faster. Or so the blame game went.

But let’s play the blame game fairly, folks. This is a serious problem and those responsible for any part in the mishandling of this disaster need to step forward and shoulder their part of the blame. The only one who has done so up until now is President Bush. The other culprits are still hiding behind political smokescreens pointing at Bush. Let’s see who is responsible for what and who took care of their responsibilities and who didn’t.

The City of New Orleans Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan and the New Orleans City Charter say, “The person responsible for …the issuance of an evacuation order is the Mayor of the City of New Orleans.” It goes on to say, “Special arrangements will be made to evacuate persons unable to transport themselves or who require specific life saving assistance.” We have all seen those pictures of hundreds of school buses standing in floodwaters. The Mayor not only failed in his major responsibility to evacuate the city, he didn’t even try.

The State of Louisiana Emergency Operations Plan states “The primary means of hurricane evacuation will be personal vehicles, school and municipal buses, government-owned vehicles…to provide transportation for individuals who lack transportation and require assistance in evacuating.” The Governor did not carry out this responsibility. In addition, it is within the power of the Governor to require mandatory evacuation. This she did, but only an astounding 20 hours before Katrina hit even though she had five days notice. And then only after she was contacted personally by President Bush and urged to do so. The mobilization of the Louisiana National Guard for law enforcement and evacuation assistance is the exclusive right of the governor. This she did at 7:00 A.M. the day Katrina smashed into the city. With 5 days notice!

The Mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of Louisiana both failed miserably in their primary responsibility to protect the citizens of their respective city and state. Their lack of action borders on the criminal. Neither of these clowns has admitted any fault as of the time I write this. I hope their constituency is paying attention.

That brings us to FEMA and their actions, or lack thereof, that President Bush has rightfully taken responsibility for. In accordance with the Stafford Act, FEMA is first and foremost a coordinating agency. They rely on a variety of partners to carry out their mission. With only about 2500 full time employees, their roll in actual relief efforts is relatively small compared to the efforts of their partners, i.e. State and local authorities, the National Guard and relief agencies like the Red Cross. FEMA does not respond to all disasters. Instead, when state and local capacity is overwhelmed, a Governor may ask the President for Federal assistance.

FEMA actually did a credible job of prepositioning assets before the storm. They had even dropped off nearly 44,000 meals ready to eat and 90,000 liters of water at the Superdome before the storm. If it had not been for that action the people stranded there would have had a much harder time of it. FEMA did a lousy job of coordinating with state and local officials.

Local officials seem to have thought that they could declare a disaster and stand back and the federal government, in the form of FEMA, would handle all the problems. It doesn’t work that way. FEMA responds to “specific” requests by local officials. Those requests were never made so FEMA had no guidance about what needed to be done where.

The undisputed hero in this fiasco is the Department of Defense and Donald Rumsfeld. When he gave the order for active duty military personnel to become involved, things got better in a hurry. Why did it take so long? Certain conditions had to be met before federal troops could legally be deployed. It’s too complicated to cover in this limited space but that needs attention, as well.

Katrina has revealed many problems at all levels of government that we, as a nation, need to correct. Playing the blame game hasn’t helped and will continue to hinder comprehensive reform. It seems to me that the major problem revealed was that the city, state and federal officials need to have a clearer understanding of who is responsible for what.

This much I can tell you for certain. It is the responsibility of our local government to be the first responder in a disaster. They are here and need to have a plan and not be afraid to carry it out. No amount of finger pointing and denial or contractual agreement with the state or federal government will relieve them of that obligation.

If we are going to begin to believe that it is the federal government’s responsibility to respond first to a local emergency, we either need to get used to a long wait for help or just do away with our state and local governments and replace them on a local level with federal bureaucrats. A truly frightening thought.
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"If he believes his 1971 indictment of his country and his fellow veterans was true, then he couldn't possibly be proud of his Vietnam service."

[Uisguex Jack]

Nicely summed up Carpo, thanks for the prose.

[wwIIvetsdaughter]

Just compare the actions of Governors Bush, Barber, Alabama's Governor and for good measure consider the actions of Galveston's Mayor and if you have half a brain you'll figure out Blanco and Nagin are worthless.

[becca1223]